K-pop phenomenon BTS surpassed other global megastars like Taylor Swift and Elton John in terms of fan loyalty, a survey showed Sunday.
BTS’ global fandom, known as Army, scored 88.4 points out of 100 in a survey conducted by the US-based travel company Upgraded Points on 3,192 American fans of 10 artists -- BTS, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Queen, Lana Del Ray, Beyonce, Eminem and Harry Styles. They survey measured how loyal they are to their beloved music artists through a set of "yes" or "no" and short-answer questions.
Among the questions are “How far would you travel to see your favorite band’s live performances?,” “How much will you spend to meet your star in person?” and “How much of your savings would you spend to see their favorite artist live?”
By adding up the marks given for each answer, the company calculated the loyalty score of each fan base on a 0-100 scale.
BTS’ Army ranked first among the 10 surveyed fan bases followed by those of Michael Jackson (76.8 points), Elton John (66.4 points), Lady Gaga (63.3 points), Taylor Swift (60 points), Queen (55.8 points), Lana Del Ray (52.7 points), Beyonce (51.8 points), Eminem (50.8 points) and Harry Styles (40 points).
The survey found that BTS fans were willing to travel an average of 2,040 miles to see them in concert. The average amount of money they would pay for concert tickets to watch their performance was 660,000 won ($379).
In the survey, the company described BTS as “K-pop boy band that rose to fame in 2015 and has loyal fans all over the globe.”
Last month, more than 400,000 BTS fans from home and abroad flocked to the K-pop superband’s 10th anniversary event, "2023 BTS Festa," which took place at Yeouido Hangang Park in Seoul between May 31-June 17. Of the total, about 120,000 visitors were foreign fans, according to Hybe, the company behind BTS.
